Hudson Edge Investment Partners Inc. Sells 111 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Hudson Edge Investment Partners Inc. lowered its position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 6.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,655 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 111 shares during the quarter. Hudson Edge Investment Partners Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $1,697,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Collier Financial bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the third quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,010.00, for a total value of $10,100,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at $69,117,330. The trade was a 12.75 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,045.90, for a total transaction of $37,851,121.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,777,432. The trade was a 84.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 110,190 shares of company stock worth $115,163,141 in the last 90 days. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

BlackRock Stock Down 1.5 %

BLK opened at $974.97 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a current ratio of 5.23. BlackRock, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $745.55 and a fifty-two week high of $1,084.22. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $1,011.61 and its 200 day moving average is $977.04. The stock has a market cap of $151.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 1.28.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.52 by $0.41. The company had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. BlackRock’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $9.66 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $5.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.14%. This is a boost from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. BlackRock’s payout ratio is presently 49.62%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on BLK shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Monday, February 17th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Profile

BlackRock, Inc is a publicly owned investment manager. The firm primarily provides its services to institutional, intermediary, and individual investors including corporate, public, union, and industry pension plans, insurance companies, third-party mutual funds, endowments, public institutions, governments, foundations, charities, sovereign wealth funds, corporations, official institutions, and banks.